Wednesday, April 12, 2017

The Heat is On

Someone turned the heat up in Phnom Penh today. We understand that the weather has been unusually mild for April, in the mid 30's, but today it feels dreadful outside. When you walk outside, it feels like someone has a hot hair dryer on you, full blast. It's back to sweaty backs and legs weather. We just have to abandon the North American attitude towards sweat and deal with it. I don't sweat, I *glisten*.

This weekend is Khmer New Year and the streets feel eerily quiet out there. Greg thinks the roads are more dangerous than usual because no one is obeying the street lights with the light traffic. When I went to the grocery store today, it kind of felt like Christmas at home as I couldn't find a parking spot and the store was packed.I had my purchases all ready to go on the counter and a lady just walks in front of me and hands her groceries to the cashier, bypassing the line. Grrr. She knew what she was doing was rude because she said sorry to me, in English.

Greg had a trip to the village last month to evaluate one of the projects. Ratanak is focussed on preventing exploitation, protecting the vulnerable,helping the trafficked return home and seeing the survivors restored. The project he visited was part of the prevention piece, an education project in the village. Community leaders are taught, via flip charts, to recognize risks in their community and how to avoid and report suspected crimes. The leaders, called "heros", then teach the other members of the community. He was away for two nights with his colleague and enjoyed experiencing village life, although his eel dinner made him happy to come home to my cooking! 
Village heros learning how to prevent exploitation within their communities.


Boiled eel for dinner, freshly caught in the family's pond. 

I managed two nights on my own in our big ol house, which wouldn't have frightened me except for the many recent robberies in our neighbourhood. Thieves climb the gates and saw through the window bars to enter homes and steal electronics and cash. There was a lot of prayer happening those two nights!

I had a weekend away with my friends in the heart of the city, celebrating my friend's 40th birthday. (she's a just a baby!)It was great fun to explore touristy parts of the city and feel like I was traveling somewhere exotic. It was shocking to see the cost of products marketed towards the tourist. The clothing prices were more expensive than home and in USD. We lounged around the hotel pool, ate our meals out discovering a great Mexican restaurant, enjoyed aromatherapy massages, binge watched "This is Us" and experienced high tea at an upscale hotel that overlooked the city and the stinky canal. :)

I had a driving incident not too long ago that was apparently more serious than I realized. Talking with experienced foreigners here is always eye opening. I was driving on a busy night, turning left. The driver of a large truck was also turning left onto the road I was on. At home, I would have the right of way. There is no such thing as right of way here. It's a free for all. Admittedly, I was showing off to my visiting passenger, and I wouldn't let the big truck go, blocking him. Well, he literally shoved me off the road into the ditch and I made the huge mistake of flinging my hands up in irritation at him, only to see that the truck was a large, fancy, police vehicle. My heart sank. My friend didn't think I could get out of the ditch, but somehow I managed. When I relayed the story to numerous friends who have lived here a long time, I was told I was lucky I wasn't shot. I laughed at that, not believing it could be a possibility, but apparently, God was protecting me that day. Lesson learned. NEVER make a local lose face, and that rule is even more important when dealing with those in authority. I am grateful to have learned the lesson by getting off easy. 

On top of two statutory holidays, Greg took the rest of the week off and we are flying out to Thailand on Friday. It is their New Year as well and they celebrate with huge water fights in the streets. That should be an experience! We will spend a few days in Bangkok, where there is an IKEA...yay...civilization! Some people go to Thailand for pad thai and the beaches. I am going for steak at the Sizzler and IKEA. But seriously, we are off to the beach as well. We will take a bus to Hua Hin and then taxi to Dolphin Bay and enjoy some down time there. When we return, there are only 7 weeks of teaching lessons for me and then it's fly home time! Everyday I am closer to hanging out with T and J for 6 weeks. From there, we will figure out when they can come next and see Greg as well.

I sure hope it cools down by the time I come back home to Phnom Penh! :)